Book Review: Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf

Our Souls At Night is a very sweet and tender read about two lonely people in their seventies. The story is set in a small town in America where everyone knows everyone and where there’s not much that’s missed. Addie Moore and Louis Waters are neighbours and have known each other for years. One evening, Addie decides to do something about her loneliness by inviting Louis to stay with her each night.

This is a gentle and touching read full of hope and anticipation. We are given a voyeuristic view into their growing relationship and the challenges they face. It’s much like watching a budding flower blossom, you hold you breath at the beauty of it knowing that it can’t last.

The tragedy of it all is that the author wrote it for his wife Cathy as he was dying and didn’t live long enough to see it published.

A movie of the same name starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford is equally as good although there are some slight changes in story.

An uplifting and beautiful read of only 179 pages where every sentence is carefully considered.

‘The next day he worked in the yard in the morning and mowed the lawn and ate lunch and took a short nap and then went down to the bakery and drank coffee with a group of men he met with every other week. One of them a man he didn’t particularly like. The man said, I wish I had your energy.”

Just because you get to a certain age doesn’t mean you can’t find love and happiness. This book will make you think about older age differently.